I do not multitask well. It’s not that you (anybody) can focus on several things simultaneously. It is more like juggling several tasks, like tennis balls. There was a time when I could keep 3 tennis balls in the air for 15 or 20 seconds. When first learning I thought the task would be mostly catching the balls as they fell but learned otherwise quickly. The fine motor skill with juggling is to keep your hands in the same place and toss the ball so it will land in the same place (your other hand) every time. When you discipline your hands to a precise, repeating pattern and make every toss exactly the same height and trajectory, the ball lands in your free hand without having to look for it. Keeping your head still and not having to shift your weight (move feet) and things get easier fast. That’s not multitasking.
Multitasking would be like preparing a big dinner with an unfamiliar menu, remembering when to check rolls in the oven, when to stir the kettle so the bottom doesn’t burn while chopping veggies for the salad. You can be a multitasking wizard and still be a bad cook but those are two different stories. I can get a good meal on the table but it takes twice as long as it should, the kitchen looks like a train wreck and every dish & pan is dirty. For me it is more of an impromptu experiment, knowing what it should look like in the end. It can be full of surprises but if it pleases the palate, you hope you can remember how you did it for the next time. I’m not good at that either.
In any case, I don’t multitask well. If you have more time than you need to keep 3 tennis balls in the air then it’s just moving things around without being pressured. I get lucky more often than not and nobody notices. I recently went on a July camping vacation (3 weeks in Colorado) and other than a mechanical problem on the 2nd day (sh*t happens & you deal with it), it went smooth even if we changed routes and itinerary in the middle. But when I got back it took over a week to focus on anything. Every day was a blank page and no ideas, it was all I could do to single-task and I didn’t like it at all. Through all of June, my primary purpose was preparation for hanging an art show of my photographs. Even though I was doing other things, art show preparation consumed all my concerns. August closed in on the art show and the last 10 days were frenetic, waiting on indifferent suppliers and late deliveries. The last 3 days were helter skelter but the show is up, it looks good and all there is now is an artist’s reception at the end of the week. Now I am back on a blank page, checking the clock to know when it’s bedtime.
But nature hates a vacuum and so do I. Maybe this is what it’s like coming off a hangover. I haven’t been hungover since 1963 so I’ll plead ignorance and a leaky memory. I think a road trip would cure a lot of my ills. I have shrimp in the freezer and I make really good gumbo bit it all tastes (feels) better in good company, in Louisiana in particular. I would take a good shrimp salad over a Po’ boy any day, don’t need all that bread. It doesn’t matter how good the food is, it is better when shared with someone you care about and maybe that’s all I need. Even if I don’t go right away it is a seed that might sprout, even take root.
Multitasking would be like preparing a big dinner with an unfamiliar menu, remembering when to check rolls in the oven, when to stir the kettle so the bottom doesn’t burn while chopping veggies for the salad. You can be a multitasking wizard and still be a bad cook but those are two different stories. I can get a good meal on the table but it takes twice as long as it should, the kitchen looks like a train wreck and every dish & pan is dirty. For me it is more of an impromptu experiment, knowing what it should look like in the end. It can be full of surprises but if it pleases the palate, you hope you can remember how you did it for the next time. I’m not good at that either.
In any case, I don’t multitask well. If you have more time than you need to keep 3 tennis balls in the air then it’s just moving things around without being pressured. I get lucky more often than not and nobody notices. I recently went on a July camping vacation (3 weeks in Colorado) and other than a mechanical problem on the 2nd day (sh*t happens & you deal with it), it went smooth even if we changed routes and itinerary in the middle. But when I got back it took over a week to focus on anything. Every day was a blank page and no ideas, it was all I could do to single-task and I didn’t like it at all. Through all of June, my primary purpose was preparation for hanging an art show of my photographs. Even though I was doing other things, art show preparation consumed all my concerns. August closed in on the art show and the last 10 days were frenetic, waiting on indifferent suppliers and late deliveries. The last 3 days were helter skelter but the show is up, it looks good and all there is now is an artist’s reception at the end of the week. Now I am back on a blank page, checking the clock to know when it’s bedtime.
But nature hates a vacuum and so do I. Maybe this is what it’s like coming off a hangover. I haven’t been hungover since 1963 so I’ll plead ignorance and a leaky memory. I think a road trip would cure a lot of my ills. I have shrimp in the freezer and I make really good gumbo bit it all tastes (feels) better in good company, in Louisiana in particular. I would take a good shrimp salad over a Po’ boy any day, don’t need all that bread. It doesn’t matter how good the food is, it is better when shared with someone you care about and maybe that’s all I need. Even if I don’t go right away it is a seed that might sprout, even take root.
No comments:
Post a Comment